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Cogidubnus
2010-05-16, 03:17 AM
I don't have tome of battle, so I was wondering if, for interest's sake, someone could explain to me what maneuvers are and how they work?

gdiddy
2010-05-16, 03:42 AM
Maneuvers are once-per-encounter powers that usually revolve around melee attacks.

They are divided into three types: Strikes, which usually take a standard action and modify a melee attack; Boosts, which buff you and usually take a swift action; and Counters, which are responsive maneuvers that do not usually take place on your turn and use immediate actions, unless specified otherwise.

Every class has different maneuver mechanics. As a consensus, Warblade is considered the most well-constructed as far as its maneuver mechanics, so I'll run through them.

A warblade knows a certain number of maneuvers, but can only have about half of them readied at any point. At any point in the day, even with no sleep and hungover, the Warblade can set his readied maneuvers with five minutes of exercise and mental preparation.

Then he's set. Maneuvers are ready the second he decides to beat on someone.

When initiated, a maneuver is expended. At any point, a Warblade can expend a swift action, as long as he initiates no maneuver this turn and only either makes a single move or a single attack, renew all his maneuvers (Read that until it makes sense. Use a swift action, only move or standard attack, then renewed.). For some powerful maneuvers, this can turn a Warblade's strategy into a series of Maneuver -> Renew -> Maneuver -> Renew, but a DM should shut that down with enemies that get savvy.

Initiator Level is the level a martial adept has for the purpose of learning maneuvers. IL determines the maximum level of maneuver he can learn. See the book for details, as I'm not going to replicate a table of (c) material here.

Maneuvers are divided into schools, but they aren't exclusive. A warblade can choose maneuvers from any warblade school, as long as he meets requirements for the maneuver.

AslanCross
2010-05-16, 03:55 AM
Tome of Battle has three classes that it designates 'Martial Adepts': The Crusader, warblade, and swordsage.

These three classes are thematically similar to the paladin, fighter, and monk/assassin/other striker specialist, respectively.

The three classes learn maneuvers, which are techniques that they learn as they level up. They can learn a certain set of maneuvers and ready a subset of those every day. They can change their readied maneuvers between encounters.

Readied maneuvers are executed as standard actions. They have typically unique effects that boost your standard attack in special ways, though a few of them have stronger and stronger versions (Sapphire Nightmare Blade -> Ruby Nightmare Blade -> Diamond Nightmare Blade, for example).

Maneuvers tend to have more general effects than feats. Steel Wind simply allows you to attack two enemies at once; Wolf Fang Strike allows you to fight with two weapons as a standard action. As you go up the line they become more amazing, but these effects tend to be things you can use over and over again without being so overpowering. Conversely, feats tend to give specific, heavily combo-able effects. Shock Trooper, for one.

To call them "spells" is not really accurate---while it uses the same level divisions as Vancian casting, the similarity ends there. The maneuvers don't scale by level since they're usable far more often. Only two of the disciplines are outright magical: Desert Wind and Shadow Hand.

The maneuvers are divided into nine disciplines:

Desert Wind: Focuses on speed, mobility, and using fire. Unique to Swordsage.
Devoted Spirit: Focuses on toughness, bestows healing and has a couple for heavy whacking. Thematically paladin-like; as such, it's Crusader-specific.
Diamond Mind: Focuses on the power of the mind; many maneuvers use concentration checks to accomplish some amazing feats.
Iron Heart: Focuses on pure skill. The most mundane of the schools. Warblade-only.
Setting Sun: Focuses on reversals and throws. Swordsage Only.
Shadow Hand: Manipulation of shadows and negative energy, causing ability damage, invisibility, or simply triggering sneak attack. Swordsage Only.
Stone Dragon: Hitting things really hard. The only discipline that all martial adepts can access.
Tiger Claw: Wild, animalistic fighting. Two-weapon fighting is supported, and so is fighting with two-handed weapons and jumping around a lot.
White Raven: The commander discipline. Heavily tactical, focuses on giving your friends a lot of openings.

There are a few basic types of maneuvers:

-Strikes: Bread and butter. Add a special effect to your attack.
-Boosts: One-round buffs that give a more general effect.
-Counters: Respond to an attack as an immediate action.
-Stances: Not really maneuvers. They're a general state you can choose to put your character in to get a certain, specific bonus, usually situational. Punishing Stance allows you to deal +1d6 damage on all your attacks, but penalizes you a flat -2 to AC. Assassin's Stace gives +2d6 sneak attack. Stances can be activated as a swift action.

EDIT: I expected to be Swordsaged on this one. Look! He's even wearing a mask! And are those nunchucks?

cheezewizz2000
2010-05-16, 03:56 AM
You missed out on stances, which provide you with a bonus for as long as you are in that stance. The trade-off being that you can only be in one stance at a time, unless you are a level 20 Warblade.

Edit: Ouch. Ninja'd by a ninja that was himself ninja'd.

Greenish
2010-05-16, 04:05 AM
Tome of Battle excerpt that explains the key concepts (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060802a&page=1) (also warblade class).

Martial maneuvers (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20061225a).

gdiddy
2010-05-16, 04:26 AM
EDIT: I expected to be Swordsaged on this one. Look! He's even wearing a mask! And are those nunchucks?

Spy'd actually.

I was never really on your side...